Absorbing-state transitions and self-organized criticality
Some processes, like an epidemic, can die out completely and then never restart; the boundary between dying out and spreading forever is an absorbing-state transition. Self-organized criticality is the idea that some systems tune themselves to such a boundary, producing avalanches of all sizes.
Why it matters
These are the main classes of phase transitions far from equilibrium and are proposed as the origin of power laws in earthquakes, brain activity and the onset of turbulence.
Review
H. Hinrichsen, Non-equilibrium critical phenomena and phase transitions into absorbing states, Advances in Physics, 2000. https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0001070 reference checked
See also
Timestamp record
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